It is understood the delay is to allow his department time to absorb the results of housing research that will not be completed until the end of this year.
It also emerged last week that next year's Approved Development Programme will see the government confirm its commitment to provide extra resources for intermediate housing policies such as the Starter Home Initiative and shared ownership.
Housing and planning minister Lord Rooker is to announce the details of the ADP budget at the National Housing Federation's annual conference next week. The ADP budget is expected to be well over £1bn.
As well as a commitment to use prefabricated or modular housing to provide more social housing, extra funds are expected to be allocated to policies such as the SHI.
Moat Housing Group chief executive John Barker said: "It would be good news that the Starter Home Initiative is continuing because it's meeting positive housing need."
Rooker's announcement next week will be the first in a three-step process that will see the government unveil its plans to arrest the decline in the number of homes built in the UK.
At the Urban Summit Prescott is expected to elaborate on the construction techniques and locations for modular housing.
The next round of arm's-length management bids must be made to the Housing Corporation by mid-October for funding from next April. But the corporation cannot issue vital guidance until the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister fixes the budget.
The third step will be the research that has delayed Prescott's stock option announcement, including a National Audit Office investigation into the costs and benefits of transfer, due next month, which could force the ODPM to modify its plans.
Data setting the benchmark for the decent homes standard will also be available in October from the English House Conditions Survey. By rolling forward data from 1996 the ODPM estimated 42 per cent of social housing, amounting to 1.7 million homes, failed the standard.
But accurate information will be vital in deciding how strongly the government must push its transfer programme to hit the target.
A raft of changes to council finance are also in the pipeline but final decisions cannot be taken until consultation has finished.
Source
Housing Today
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